1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to cable management devices for patch panel or network equipment racks, and more particularly to a cable manager for use with adjacent patch panels or network equipment on distribution racks or within cabinets, with an improved finger and cover design.
2. Description of Related Art
Cabling, such as UTP, ScTP, coax and fiber optic cabling, is being increasingly used in the telecommunications industry to provide data, voice, video, or audio information. Patch panel or network equipment enclosure and rack systems are well-known in the industry and provided to manage and organize such cables to or from equipment or cross-connect systems. These systems usually include a standard EIA 19xe2x80x3, 23xe2x80x3 or other distribution frame rack on which one or more patch panels, network equipment, fiber optic enclosures and the like are mounted. Enclosures within the rack serve various functions, including operation as slack trays, splice trays, cable organizers and patch panels. These racks also serve as inter-connect or cross-connect enclosures when interfacing with equipment, or may serve as a telecommunications closet, allowing the cables to be terminated, spliced, patched or stored at places along their length.
The rack usually is formed of a frame having mounting apertures located along vertical legs or walls of the rack. Patching equipment, such as a patch panel, is mounted on the rack so as to define generally a patching side where patch cords coming from an active device or another patch panel can be cross-connected and interconnected, and a distribution side where cables from network equipment or a work station area are terminated. Generally some form of cable management is also provided on both sides of the rack to support and route the cables. While preventing detrimental bending is always important even for copper cabling, with the increasing use of fiber optic connectors as applied to connector rack systems, proper cable management and bend radius control has become increasingly important. Many known systems are unable to provide complete bend radius control, are inefficient in use, difficult to manufacture, or have other drawbacks and thus, improvement in the cable management of network rack systems is desired.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved cable management device.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cable manager for a network rack with an improved finger design that provides more effective bend radius control.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a single cable manager device that provides improved cable management to each side of a network rack.
It is still further an object of the present invention to provide an improved readily installable molded cable manager with a hinged cover for a network rack system.
Various ones of the above and other features and objects of the invention are provided by a cable manager mountable to a network rack. The cable manager includes a central section and a front cable routing section. The central section has a longitudinal width sized to fit within the network rack, a front side, a rear side, and rack mounting holes provided on opposite longitudinal ends of the central section. The front cable routing section extends from the front side of the central section and includes a plurality of spaced fingers extending transversely from the front side of the central section. Each of the plurality of spaced fingers has an arcuate surface that provides bend radius control. A slit is medially disposed along the arcuate surface and extends from a distal end of the finger towards a proximal end of the finger. At least one ear laterally extends from the distal end in a receiving space between adjacent fingers.
Various ones of the above and other features and objects of the invention are also provided by a cable manager mountable to a network rack, comprising a central section, a front cable routing section and a rear cable routing section. The central section has a longitudinal width sized to fit within the network rack, a front side, a rear side, and rack mounting holes provided on opposite longitudinal ends of the central section. The front cable routing section extends from the front side of the central section and includes a first plurality of spaced fingers extending transversely from the front side of the central section and retaining flanges extending from distal ends of multiple ones of the first plurality of spaced fingers. The rear cable routing section extends from the rear side of the central section, the rear cable routing section including a second plurality of spaced fingers extending transversely from the rear side of the central section and retaining flanges extending from distal ends of multiple ones of the second plurality of spaced fingers.
Various ones of the above and other features and objects of the invention are also provided by a network rack containing the above cable manager.